Awsome Rob!

What camo do you intend to paint?

All the best,
Andreas

Thanks for looking in guys! The Trumpeter kit certainly is a dream come true for T-72 fans, despite a few improvements i've had to make here and there, the details they have included are superb.




Thanks Andreas. She's going to be plain green and filthy, i'll probably go for some graffiti as seen on some Chechnya 72's as well.

nice work! hope to see your update soon!

Nice building review, Keep it up! Looking forward to see the finally painting and weathering.

Thanks guys! I should have some more updates soon.

Time for an update and i've now started work on the turret, which is where the T-72B really starts to come to life.

To date no plastic manufacturer has managed to accurately capture the correct shape of the various T-72 turrets, and us fan's of modern Russian armour have had to rely for years on aftermarket alternatives. I'm pleased to say though that finally with Trumpeter we have a reasonably accurate later style 'Super Dolly Parton' turret. I've mentioned in my review of the kit that the shaping around the front is a little off but ultimately its pretty damn good.

Construction begins by joining the two turret halves.







There are some joins which need cleaning up:



At this point as well I decided to improve the turret texturing. The Trumpeter item is quite smooth and although it does have some pitting its not really pronounced enough for the quite distinctive cast appearance of the T-72B turret. As you will notice on these reference photos the casting has quite a pronounced scraped appearance, which can be imparted on the turret by scraping a scalpel blade across the plastic.



This is an A turret but the appearance is the same:



The anti-radiation cladding also needs to doe texturing again, which I applied using my previous method. Heres the real thing again:



And my turret improvements:







I've applied a coat of primer at this point to check the appearance:









Adding the retaining discs for the anti-radiation cladding:





The next steps cover the K-V ERA segments for the turret front, but I skipped those for the moment and just carried on detailing the main turret, adding some of the K-1 blocks:



The location of the blocks in front of the commanders hatch needs to be altered slightly compared to how Trumpeter depict in the instructions:



One also needs to add the wiring for the L2AG search light.



Notice that i've also added the lifting hooks to the front checks, which Trumpeter fails to mention in the instructions, although the parts are included (A30). Heres the real thing highlighting the correct location:

I like your build, very nice and informative !
Doing something similar ... a MENG hull with a Miniarm turret ... like the Miniarm turret better.

Keep up the great work !

Cheers
Christopher

I think the texture on the turret is spot on. Nice progress.

Greg

Very nice, how did You manage to do those "groove cast marks" on the front of the turret? I have been trying to archieve this effect unsuccesfully.

Thanks Christopher!

Are you using the old or new Miniarm turret? They appear to have recently released a whole bunch but I can't tell if they are made from new masters as the anti-radiation cladding on the old ones wasn't really pronounced enough. I've got several in the stash, as you say the quality is such that they aren't rendered obsolete by the Trumpeter kit.

Thanks Greg & Arpad. The texturing is just created by dragging a Swann Morton scalpel blade across the surface and then smoothing out with a sanding stick. Basically just carve away are the surface. I think next time i'd probably beef up the armour by applying several coats of Mr Surfacer or some putty as I have removed a considerable amount of plastic.

Got a bit more work done of the turret recently. You'll have to forgive me here as i'm skipping about between different areas but largely just sticking to the designated construction steps, with certain parts backdated to T-72B (1989) standard as per my build.

One item which needs addressing is the cross-wind sensor for the fire-control. Trumpeters part is quite chunky and not really acceptable, which is good for me as its redundant anyway and not present on the T-72B M1989 version which i'm building. Heres the instructions though for anyone interested:



And the pretty poor kit part:



Earlier T-72's are simply fitted with a convoy marker light, which you can see here:







In trying to use the kit parts as much as possible I simply cut down the kits cross-wind sensor mast:



Some filling was needed:



All totally constructed from parts included in the kit, including the PE plate onto which the small marker light is fitted, which was a piece of redundant etch:





(Ok, I did use some very fine electrical wire which had to be sourced elsewhere)

I put the loaders hatch together as well at this point:





Trumpeter fouled up and there is no such sprue J included in the kit, so I had to make my own locking latch and grab handle:



I finalised step 17 by fitting the K-V ERA segments and moved onto step 18:







Notice that I have repositioned the two left most K-I ERA blocks on the centre of the turret. Trumpeter has these incorrectly located on the instructions:



Compare to the real thing:





Onto step 18 and theres some more small turret parts to add:



Part N26 needs to be slightly relocated as it sits a little too far forward and isn't close enough to the edge of the K-I ERA blocks:



Refer to my earlier photo:



Just fill the locating hole and move closer to the ERA blocks very slightly:



(Note that I have carved away some of the anti-radiation classing in front of the commanders cupola, as per reference photos.)

Here's the turret as it now stands:





Another AM item I couldn't avoid at this point was the antenna mount, as I had a set of Voyager turned metal items it was a no brainer:

following this like glue, learn a lot from your improvements,one Question, do you need to change the tracks , as the tracks are late versions?

Thanks buddy! Yes I did change the tracks, I've used the MasterClub RMsh resin tracks, i'm just working on hosting the first photos on this blog onto Armorama so they are visible again.

More turret work done, one item of which is the hinge mount for the 'Luna' searchlight:



As is the fit isn't quite right:





And will need to be cut and bent into position:





I lost the Trumpeter searchlight so had to source a replacement from the Tamiya kit:



Here's the remainder of the assemblies required on step 18:



The small spot-light for the left of the loaders hatch:



And the gunner's sight:



Which I decided to improve very slightly by replacing the moulded on spring with a piece of fine coiled wire:



Here are the parts in place:



Next up I addressed the turret stowage bins:



(Note the error on Trumpeter's instruction manual)

The real bin's are constructed from welded pressed metal, so I decided to add the front welds, which one can observe here on this T-72B3:



I added strips of masking tape and stippled Mr Surfacer between the gaps thus leaving a rough weld line. My welds are way too over-sized, but the effect looks quite good.





These are supposed to be fitter as one of the final steps, but I decided to install them now. One omission Trumpeter has made is any mention of the the mounting bars for the bottom of the bins, luckily the plastic parts are included on Sprue N.







Up next Trumpeter's stunningly well detailed commanders cupola:









The anti-fragment shield isn't quite so good so I decided to leave it off.



When not fitted there are two mounting spikes present either side of the cupola search light mount:



The cupola fits snugly onto the turret without the need for any glue, allowing one to rotate it. With this set aside for the moment I next turned my attention to the interior sight parts which Trumpeter provide:







And then fitting the ERA blocks above the gun mantlet, although I haven't photographed this step.



I have also skipped constructing the 12.7mm KORD anti-aircraft gun, mainly because the Trumpeter parts are quite chunky and i'm considering replacing them with Tamiya and Voyager etch items, but more on that later....until then here's the instruction step for anyone interested:



We now reach more or less the final page of the instruction manual and step 20, which is finalising the turret. I began by building the rear stowage bin:





This is pretty neat as Trumpeter provide the two lids as separate items, which means if you cut away the filled-in plastic on the top of the bin, it's possible to depict it opened up, which I chose to do.





I just had to add the interior of the pressed face on the inside:



Mine isn't strictly correct as the interior of the bin obviously would need adding with sheet metal partitions, however it will make a rather neat point of interested on the finished model.

Once the bin is installed in place I added some retaining chains to the hinge mechanism (which enables the bin to be raised when opening the engine access hatch):



These are taken from a surplus Eduard etch set designed for the Tamiya kit:



With the real thing evident here:



Up next, the Tucha smoke dischargers:



Some mould plug holes on the rear need to be filled in, which is incredibly awkward to do:



And as I had them spare I replaced the kit dischargers with turned metal items from Voyager:







Here's the whole mount fitted, completed with the electrical conduit added from solder wire:



See here the real thing:



And I added some welds:



The turret is nearing completion at this point, with just a few more very small missing details to add. Firstly some retaining clips on the stowage bin locking latch:



Also two tie down loops on the right side, which are positioned to secure a tarp usually stored on top of the stowage bin, visible here on the real thing:





There's a half circular brush guard which is also present next to the spent shell hatch, the purpose of which I am unsure of, but added none the less from a piece of Eduard etch.





Here's how its looking at present, pretty damned awesome if I do say so myself-well done Trumpeter on what is ultimately a very good representation of the T-72B turret, improved by a few small extras:









So that's all for this evening, hopefully tomorrow I'll have the final few bits finished off, as well as a barrel fitted. Thanks for looking in.

I love everything you've done to it. Absolutely great work. Looking forward to the paint.




Erik

Hey Rob

Your looks fantastic !
I am using the "old" MINIARM turret ... can't mate it with the MENG hull without extensive rework on the drivers front armor/vision area.
The turret fits perfectly on the TRUMPETER hull so I will use that one.
Also got another "Dolly Parton" (identical turret) finished without the ERA blocks for another project.
Used some of the TRUMPETER stowage side bins and MINIARM ones for the rear, only minor adjustments needed. I did however use the TRUMPETER ERA blocks which do look better in my opinion but are slightly longer then the ones provided by MINIARM ... but it works for me.
I like the MINIARM turrets because they have a more "crude" appearance ... you did a lovely job on yours though !




Cheers
Christopher

"There's a half circular brush guard which is also present next to the spent shell hatch, the purpose of which I am unsure of, but added none the less from a piece of Eduard etch."

I believe that's a guard for some sort of atmospheric pressure gauge, explained somewhere in this site, http://www.t-72.de/
but I can't seem to find the reference right now.

The turret is looking great, love the texture on the cladding (nadboy?) As far as the commanders m.g., is it known for sure whether this is a Kord or a NSVT?

Sean

Thanks for the info Sean and pleased you like my work. You are correct as well, its an NSVT not KORD, my bad.

Thanks Christopher.

I get what you mean about the Miniarm turret, I much prefer the rougher and more irregular pattern of the anti-radiation cladding especially. Although unfortunately it's not pronounced enough around the turret sides and rear.

I think a lot of fun can be had with the Trumpeter kit though and can see myself build a whole heap of versions...

Here's the Trumpeter NSVT assembled. Its not a bad effort and actually the cradle is quite nice, free from an mould marks, however I found the gun a little chunky; i'm not keen on the flat rectangle representing the iron sight either.












I've got a spare Tamiya item from their T-72 kit and a dedicated Voyager etch set so may end up using that, or just ditch plastic altogether for a resin item from Miniarm. Either way, this will do for the present.

thanks for clearing out those damn instructions, learned some more things today!

Almost there....

The kit barrel is a standard two-part affair and unfortunately not really usable for me; turned metal barrels always have the edge.



The join runs along the barrel side thus not compromising the top and bottom detail, so i'm sure someone could make a decent job of it. However I have a heap of RB replacement items in my stash so it was a bit of a no-brainer, these are incredibly inexpensive as well.



Its god they included the ventilation holes on the underside:







RB's barrel fits like a glove into the rubber mantlet:





Theres a small photo-etch ring to add to the end of the mantlet cover (note that i've also drilled open the mg barrel):



Ignore the painting on the searchlight cover above, this was a practise piece for the T-72B I built earlier.

Here's the MG in position:



Masterclub resin tracks in place, which have previously been painted a steel colour (the resin is actually black):





The tracks are just temporarily pinned and can be removed for painting.

I added the retaining mounts for the spare tracks using kit parts and PE bolt heads:



A very nice and usable tow cable is provided in the kit:





There we have it folks, one T-72B backdated to the M1989 version, with what I hope you will agree, are some fairly simple alterations on the kit parts and a few cosmetic additions to enhance the overall appearance:















The fenders are just clicked on at present and can be removed for painting:




I do have a few one final task to complete, namely the construction of the headlight guards from wire. I've just put this off for the moment as I don't have any suitable wire to hand from which to construct these. Apart from that though that's her more or less finished and ready for painting........

Hi;

Fantastic Work !! I really Enjoyed Your Build and Can not wait too see it Painted !

CHEERS; MIKE.

Very nice build indeed !

Cheers
Christopher